The White House officially appointed Tyler Goodspeed as the acting chairman of its Council of Economic Advisers, after the unexpected departure of former acting Chairman Tomas Philipson and senior economist Kevin Hassett in the past few weeks.
The Council of Economic Advisers is a policy committee that plays a central role in the White House’s response to the coronavirus-related economic downturn.
Goodspeed, a Harvard-trained economist, joined the council in 2017 as a senior economist before eventually becoming a full member of the CEA. He’s expected to stay in the role and lead the council at least until the end of the 2020 presidential election.
The former academic will lead the council at a critical time for the White House and the country, with the economy in the midst of a recession due to the coronavirus-related shutdowns and tens of millions of jobs lost in the past few months.
The recent brain-drain of economists within the council has allowed Goodspeed, 35, to take over from Philipson, who abruptly left the White House in June to rejoin the faculty this fall at the University of Chicago.
Thus far, during his time in the council, Goodspeed has focused on proposals and analyses such as economic modeling related to the coronavirus lockdowns, how to deal with rising student loan debt, a digital services tax, and plans for further middle-class tax cuts.
Prior to joining the Trump administration, Goodspeed taught economics at the University of Oxford and at King’s College London.
It has been reported that he joined the council after cold-calling Hassett in 2017 to express his desire to work in the administration. He is also one of the few openly gay officials in the Trump administration.
